Analysis of When Dacey rode the Mule
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
’TWAS to a small, up-country town,
When we were boys at school,
There came a circus with a clown,
Likewise a bucking mule.
The clown announced a scheme they had
Spectators for to bring—
They’d give a crown to any lad
Who’d ride him round the ring.
And, gentle reader, do not scoff
Nor think a man a fool—
To buck a porous-plaster off
Was pastime to that mule.
The boys got on he bucked like sin;
He threw them in the dirt.
What time the clown would raise a grin
By asking, “Are you hurt?”
But Johnny Dacey came one night,
The crack of all the school;
Said he, “I’ll win the crown all right;
Bring in your bucking mule.”
The elephant went off his trunk,
The monkey played the fool,
And all the band got blazing drunk
When Dacey rode the mule.
But soon there rose a galling shout
Of laughter, for the clown
From somewhere in his pants drew out
A little paper crown.
He placed the crown on Dacey’s head
While Dacey looked a fool;
“Now, there’s your crown, my lad,” he said,
“For riding of the mule!”
The band struck up with “Killaloe”,
And “Rule Britannia, Rule”,
And “Young Man from the Country”, too,
When Dacey rode the mule.
Then Dacey, in a furious rage,
For vengeance on the show
Ascended to the monkeys’ cage
And let the monkeys go;
The blue-tailed ape and the chimpanzee
He turned abroad to roam;
Good faith! It was a sight to see
The people step for home.
For big baboons with canine snout
Are spiteful, as a rule—
The people didn’t sit it out,
When Dacey rode the mule.
And from the beasts he let escape,
The bushmen all declare,
Were born some creatures partly ape
And partly native-bear.
They’re rather few and far between,
The race is nearly spent;
But some of them may still be seen
In Sydney Parliament.
And when those legislators fight,
And drink, and act the fool,
Just blame it on that torrid night
When Dacey rode the mule.
A.B. (Banjo) Pasterson
Scheme | ababcdcd ebebfgfghbhb ibiBjajakbkb bbxB lmlmnono jbjBpqpqrxrx hbhB a |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 110111 11010101 10101 01010111 100111 11011101 111101 01010111 110101 11010101 11111 01111111 111001 11011101 110111 11010111 011101 11110111 101101 01001111 010101 01011101 110101 11110101 110101 1101111 010101 1101111 110101 11111111 110101 011111 0101001 01110101 110101 110001001 110101 01010101 010101 011100010 110111 11110111 010111 1101111 110101 0101111 110101 01011101 010101 01110101 010101 11010101 011101 11111111 010100 0111001 010101 11111101 110101 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,013 |
Words | 356 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 12, 12, 4, 8, 12, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 61 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 41 Views
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"When Dacey rode the Mule" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2734/when-dacey-rode-the-mule>.
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